Ukrainian soccer club Dynamo Kyiv lost 2-0 during the UEFA Champion’s League match against Italian club Juventus.
On Oct. 20, the Ukrainian team met Juventus for the fifth time in its history to play a home match at Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv.
Juventus striker Alvaro Morata, 28, brought a victory to Juventus as he scored a brace — in the 46th and 84th minutes. The Italian team has never lost to Dynamo Kyiv since its first game in the Champions League in 1998.
This was the first game in Group G, where Dynamo Kyiv, besides Juventus, faces Spanish Barcelona and Hungarian Ferencvarosi. The Ukrainian club will have to play six games, both home and away, including this one against Juventus. A win gives three points, a draw gives one point and the losing team doesn’t get any points. The two clubs with the biggest score after six games will compete in the knockout phase against 16 other international teams.
Dynamo Kyiv’s next game against Hungarian soccer club Ferencvarosi will take place on Oct. 28. On Oct. 20, Ferencvarosi lost to Spanish Barcelona with a 5-1 score. Budapest-based Ferencvarosi is now coached by former Dynamo Kyiv striker Serhiy Rebrov.
Although Ukrainians lost the match against Juventus, the Dynamo Kyiv coach, Mircea Lucescu, is satisfied with his players. According to Lucescu, the Italian team was stronger and more experienced.
The game against Dynamo Kyiv was Juventus’s opening match in the 2020-2021 Champions League season. The Italians won 20 of their previous 21 opening matches, losing only against Barcelona in the 2017–2018 soccer season, according to the BBC.
The Italian team faced Dynamo Kyiv without its star player Cristiano Ronaldo, who tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 13. Ronaldo, 35, holds the record for most goals in the Champions League — he scored 130 goals. The Italians hope Ronaldo will be able to join them in a game against Barcelona in Turin on Oct. 28.
Barcelona now leads in the Group G league table, while Juventus is second, the Ukrainians are third and the Hungarian team is bottom of the table.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all Champions League games are taking place with half-empty stadiums. Olimpiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv, for example, allowed only 14,850 spectators to watch the match against Juventus, although the stadium can host about 70,000 people.
